Mumbai Police sniffer dog 'Leo' helps trace missing 6-year-old boy within hours

A trained police sniffer dog helped trace a six-year-old boy within an hour and a half of his parents approaching the police in Mumbai's Powai area.

Mumbai:A Mumbai Police sniffer dog turned out a hero as it was able to trace and help rescue a six-year-old boy who had gone missing on the night of November 23 in Powai area of the city.

The dog named Leo was tasked to find the child after his parents reported him missing a day later at Powai Police Station. The child while playing with his friends near his home in Ashok Nagar slum in Powai. Leo found the allegedly kidnapped boy in just 90 minutes.

Vimla Phoolchand Kori, a woman living in the KBM Compound slum in Andheri East, rushed to the Powai police station on November 24 at around 12:30 pm and lodged a complaint that her six-year-old son Vivek was missing.

Following the mother's complaint, Mumbai Police started its search operation while taking help of the dog squad to find the missing child since he was allegedly abducted from a slum area with no CCTV cameras around. Keeping in mind the seriousness of the crime, the police immediately started a thorough search for the missing child by the crime branch team.

All control rooms was alerted by giving detailed information and description of the child. Leo was taken to the residence of the missing boy and a search operation was carried out on the basis of the odour of the t-shirt worn by the boy during the day.

While this search operation was going on, the missing boy was found at Ambedkar Udyan, Ashok Tower around 4 am on November 24. Further investigation is going on in this matter under the guidance of seniors. Deputy Commissioner of Police Datta Nalavde said they are conducting further investigation with the help of local people by checking the CCTV cameras of the surrounding areas.

With the help of police dog Leo and his handler's promptness and timely decisions and ingenuity considering the seriousness of the incident, the missing child was found and safely handed over to his parents.